Vanessa Paradis covers the September issue of Marie Claire France. I’m not sure when the interview and photo shoot went down – Vanessa and Johnny Depp announced their formal split on June 19th, which would have been right around the time that Vanessa would have been posing for a September cover. I haven’t found an English translation of the MC France interview yet, so I really don’t know what she’s talking about in the magazine. So let’s just discuss her photo shoot, shall we? First of all, I think she looks great. Vanessa usually isn’t styled this way – she often goes with a more hippie/boho/gypsy-princess vibe. This shoot feels more 1980s and glam. I can’t say I’m crazy about her frizzed-out hair – Vanessa normally has good hair, so I don’t get this.

Meanwhile, Vanessa also has a new interview in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar (US). Page Six says this piece went down two days before the split announcement in June. With this one, we don’t have any Bazaar photos yet, but we do have a few excerpts:

French beauty Vanessa Paradis spoke wistfully about love just before she split with Johnny Depp.

“Love is the strongest and most fragile thing we have in life,” Paradis says in Harper’s Bazaar’s September issue in an interview done two days before they announced they’d broken up. “Nothing is ever for sure, but when something in love doesn’t work from the beginning, it’s never going to work. Don’t push it,” she also says.

Paradis and Depp have two children. They split in June after 14 years together.

Damn, those two quotes made me really sad. Love is “the most fragile thing”? “When something in love doesn’t work from the beginning, it’s never going to work. Don’t push it”??? Vanessa is such a buzz-kill, and I mean that in a sympathetic way. It would be easier for all of us if she came out of the gate with a lot of anger or with a lot of self-pity. Instead, she just seems kind of sad and reflective. Poor V. I do believe that she was trying to work it out with Johnny.

Apparently, VP is also interviewed in the new issue of Elle France too. Here are some excerpts from that interview:

On Johnny: “I don’t want to talk about him. Who said that artists should sell their soul, expose everything about themselves? … It’s my duty to promote this movie, and my albums, but can you imagine what it feels like to see people making a business out of your pain.” She adds: “What’s happened to us is our concern.”

Happiness: “I don’t have the recipe for happiness, but I think the engine is simply having the desire,” she says. “It’s not feeling obliged or forced or repeating yourself. I hate, for example, whenever you hear someone say: ‘You have work at being a couple,’” she continues. “No, you have to want to be there. And for me, I want to be right where I am right now.’”

The future: VP says she’ll continue to divide her time between the United States and France, and their children, Lily-Rose, 14, and Jack, 10, will attend school in Los Angeles. “My children are grown now, they are more independent,” she says, noting that Lily-Rose is the same age as Paradis when she broke internationally as a pop singer. “My daughter loves singing above all else. Jack, he’s a guitarist.”

What if her kids follow in their parents’ footsteps? “I can tell you that if they decide to launch themselves into this kind of career it will be a good thing for music,” says, but after hesitating adds, “For my part, although I do not regret what I did, I’d prefer that my daughter takes the time to learn, and, especially, to live her childhood thoroughly.”

I like this part a lot – “I hate, for example, whenever you hear someone say: ‘You have work at being a couple.’ No, you have to want to be there.” That’s profound. For real. And while I think relationships/marriages DO take work (what would I know, though?), I do think that there’s a fundamental decision: “Do I want to be here? Does the other person want to be here?” It goes along with, “Is this something worth fighting for?”

51 Responses to “Vanessa Paradis: “Love is the strongest and most fragile thing we have in life””

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She is not a conventional beauty,and I don’t like the shoot (I don’t like ’80s) but I have to admit she is charmante as hell, she is smart, self confident (that’s why she doesn’t fix her theets) and intelligent. She knows what she wants, she knows who she is, you go girl.

I would guess that Johnny is an alcoholic, and his main relationship is with the bottle. No matter how beautiful and amazing his wife is, she was never the priority. And that is sad. She is in a better place in her life now, for sure.

This thang called love. I agree with her quote, it always baffled me how people can be so in love or genuinely believe they are in love and then in 5, 10 or even 20 years as in my parents case, just hate each other and separate. Baffles me.

ON her Interview, she thinks her kids are independent at 14 and 10? I mean I do not have kids but that does not look like the age for independence. Celebs and their delusional worlds sometimes.

I sympathize with you about your parents.
As a person who has known both east and west, what actually baffles me is why love is so fragile in the western countries. I first thought may be women were more repressed in the east and thats why they could n’t seperate. But my experiences and those of my friends proved me wrong. And here goes my theory:
There is too much emphasis on ‘love’ and the whole romance aspect around it makes it actually fragile and short term. I have seen highly romantic couples seperating quite early, often those who emphasised their love frequently. But I have seen quiet couples genuinely in love even 30 years later.(although they might not shout it out)

So personally I think the romance and dreaminess should be taken out of love and any relationship should be based on common goals and compatibility.

However I don’t agree with VP- of course you can work at your love and save it – I’m sorry they couldn’t.

Depp is so going to limp in life without her. If anyone could be understanding, it was her. For a mother also who’s devoted her time to her children, yes, they would be freethinking by now and that’s what’s implied by “independent”.

She is SO gross! I don’t even get the unconventional beauty thing. My favorite shot is of her back (cause you don’t get distracted by her face). And, yes, relationships are all about work. Once you’re locked in, you choose between the misery of marriage and the misery of divorce (or respective break-up). When you have children with someone, even if it doesn’t work out & you move on, you’re never, ever free.

It must be sad to be you! So, because she doesn´t register on your beauty radar she is gross? There goes the theory that the world is full of all kind of beauty. Beauty is really in the eye of the beholder, & YOU are certainly not beautiful in the inside.
Just shows who is really *gross*

Ahot – I guess you know all about me from one statement! EXCUSE ME for thinking someone is ugly. Are you offended cause you look alike? Why do people get their panties in such a twist defending people they’ll never know?
I’m as entitled to my opinion as you are. You appear to think that I’m only entitled to your opinion. She’s obviously made quite a bit of money based on her appearance. Good for her, but it still hasn’t change what I think. And neither have you.

You are taking what she said out of context. Basically you can work hard all you want at a relationship, but if you or your partner do not want to be there, there is no amount of “work” that will save the relationship. And shame on you for saying she is gross. If you have ever watched her in motion, speaking, you would see what a beauty she is.

I think she is a beautiful woman.
But then… Beauty is subjective. For example, I do not like blond men, but many women like.
Do not really understand what you’re doing here.If you do not want to see it just does not get into places where it is.

She has always been an enigma to me, but that’s a good thing. She knows who she is and can set boundaries. I like that she kept the details of her split with Johnny D private. She has had ample opportunity to lash out at him in the press. And I agree that this photo shoot doesn’t really do her any favors, but it doesn’t matter. She’s an unconventional beauty and probably very striking in person.

As an aside, I love how the French can look at life with a bit of a shrug.

Double dark sided, rich and lucky.. tossing airy vows of a loving partnership aside when boredom creeps in or I think her case .. career gains, popularity jealousy.. the both of them should have married and provided the kids a mental ideal of loving parents to achieve logical choices in their life, but .. never mind..

I’ve never been married, but being a lawyer I’ve seen more than a few marriages which have succeeded, and those that have failed. I’ve come to think of marriage like a garden: you need the right mix of plants, soil, food and water; and it needs to be tended and nurtured throughout life. You can’t just plant and then ignore it. So, maybe that qualifies at work, but it’s a dedication to keeping something alive. You can’t just ignore your partner once you have him/her.

But like I said, what do I know? I’ve never been married. Came close once, but realized he was not the right one for me, and that I’d be happier single than married to someone who isn’t right for me.

I agree with you completely. It takes work to maintain a relationship. But maybe it’s more of a semantics issue – I wonder what Paradis is thinking when she says it takes ‘work’? A grueling, exhausting, neverending effort? Because yeah, that’s an issue. But maintenance? Well, that’s different.

If she wants her daughter to live her childhood thoroughly, she shouldn’t leave her alone in the States. Come back here or bring the child to France, but start parenting her, because she looks like a mess waiting to happen

I wasn’t surprised at all by this…actually, I was expecting it even, since all those comments about him keeping the children at the States since Vanessa returned to France before the official announcement of the split…since then it looked like he is the “one” in “charge” (even if they have shared custody on papers)…

Some people want to speculate about this being the “price” return for those very generous millions he’s given to her (not as a price, more like a condition) but I don’t know…I tend to believe more that this could be a decision of the same children! remain in USA, with their friends, school and also nearest to daddy…because no matter what haters want to believe, but all the reports and even the same Vanessa has said, that Johnny is an amazing father and his children are so fascinated by him as he is with them!!

As much as he works, what makes you think he will be raising the kids full time? Not only is he making a movie every year, but he’s playing rock god in between time. Even while Vanessa was in France before the kids joined her, they were with nannies not JD. They will share custody and more than likely keep the same schedule between the two of them, just with Vanessa living in a separate household. They both do their parts as parents and they both work a lot. And despite what some may think about Vanessa working in France she’s spends the majority of her time in LA with her kids!

i just meant they are living with him. Of course their are nannies, just as there will be when they spnd time with mom. I never meant he wouldn’t be working. My dad raised me, despite him working, but i wouldnt say the babysitter raised me, my dad did. Who you live with goes a long way. I am in no way saying Vanessa won’t be parenting, i just find it odd as usually the mther lives full time with the children, and if this story were reversed, people would be saying how johnny was abandoning his children.

Children not living with Johnny.
What silly, she was promoting her film in France.
And a while ago that the children are with her there, are your summer vacation. Vanessa has said he will stay with them in the U.S. because their children are studying there.

“I don’t want to talk about him. Who said that artists should sell their soul, expose everything about themselves? … It’s my duty to promote this movie, and my albums, but can you imagine what it feels like to see people making a business out of your pain.” She adds: “What’s happened to us is our concern.”

agree with Lucy and Xtina and with you Kaiser, and here nobody is feeling sad for her, here we are discussing what she says and I am loving it she seems like a very intelligent person, as for John Nollet she has been seen very friendly with John since ages and he is GAY lol, gah I wish I had a gay friend who is also my hairdresser! that would be awesome, don’t like the cover but the inside photos are great, waiting for the Harpers Bazaar pixx

She is also beautiful on the cover and inside the French magazine Elle. I like the curly hair, was a thing of art, fashion, diferente.É for the photo. It’s not like you go out into the street produced this way, is a production for a magazine.

I know about her friendship with Nollet and even if I am not aware (for sure) that he is gay, I am struck by the double standard in sites like this…if Johnny were in the pictures, even if the woman is known as lesbian, this could be a madness with all the hate…but in Vanessa case, then all those important “details” are considered as valid!

Well it’s quite different, Amber heard is BISEXUAL not a lesbian she told to a tmz camera and she is 26 years old (who looks like a I-want-fame-so-bad kind of girl) while Depp is 49 going to 50, John Nollet is full Gay not bisexual he looks pretty much her age and he is friends with Vanessa since 14 years and they work together all the time pretty normal they are so touchy-feely see the difference?, unless she has the power to turn a gay man into Bi (which I highly doubt)

her teeth is awful and her reason that didn’t fix it is ridiculous. she was beautiful in 90s when her gap teeth was small but now it’s like a fall teeth and they are distorted .she lives with one of the most beautiful man in the world.she always praise him but now she doesn’t want fix anything and quickly gave up.last august she ,johnny and children and her parent and sister was in yacht in france and they were so happy .and now she is recovering really fast! she cozying up with her “friend”.are you sure he is gay .I’m sorry for her children. thanks god their teeth don’t like her.